A mum is taking on a gruelling trek under the sun across the Sahara desert to raise funds for the children’s charity in Whitechapel that gave her a place to stay when her son was born 16 weeks prematurely weighing less than a 2lb bag of sugar.
Mikaela Cox unexpectedly went into labour giving birth to little Reggie at the Royal London Hospital.
The tiny 23oz bundle had to be wrapped in a plastic bag to keep warm and put in a ventilator while doctors stabilised him.
Mikaela, ironically a nurse at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital at the time, and partner Dave, a chef, didn’t get to see Reggie until nine hours later — and even then couldn’t touch him for another 30 days!
“We nearly lost him,” Mikaela recalls. “Reggie was putting on weight, but one day out of nowhere we got a call saying he’d took a turn for the worse.
“Everything changed from that moment. I knew a bit about what to expect, being a nurse at Gt Ormond Street, but it was hard for Dave.”
They were living at East Ham, several stops from Whitechapel, but that’s when the Sick Children’s Trust stepped in and provided them with accommodation.
The charity put them up free at their Stevenson House “home from home” centre close to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit where Reggie was being treated.
“This changed everything,” Mikaela remembers. “We had a place to stay close by where we could cook meals, clean Reggie’s clothes and spend time with our family away from the hospital.
“We were made welcome by other families staying at Stevenson House who were going through the same thing as us. It took everything off our plate so that we could just focus on Reggie.”
Mikaela, with Reggie now grown into a strapping four-year-old toddler, is taking on a gruelling 70-mile trek across the Sahara to raise funds for the charity to help families with sick children in hospital.
“The Sahara is a tough challenge,” the 29-year-old accepts. “But I’m doing it for Reggie to help more families.”
The Sick Children’s Trust relies entirely on public donations to give families a place to stay in one of its 10 “home from home” centres.
Wellwishers can support Mikaela’s Sahara trek for the charity on her Just Giving page.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here